Sending Cavanagh off was not an option for ref Reilly

All-Ireland quarter-final weekends are big ones for the referees as well as the teams involved as it’s usually from this quartet that the final official is selected.

It can depend, of course, on the identity of the finalists as usually they don’t appoint a referee from the same province as either of the teams.

But at the moment Eddie Kinsella from Laois and Cavan’s Joe McQuillan are the leading contenders and both had fine games yesterday.

Their games as well as the Dublin-Cork match were relatively easy ones to take charge of with the exception of the four being the Tyrone-Monaghan game.

The Sean Cavanagh pull-down on Conor McManus in the 49th minute is the issue everyone is talking about — and losing their heads about too, it appears.

However, Martin Carney and Joe Brolly’s reaction on TV was over the top.

Carney corrected himself on RTÉ Radio last evening after incorrectly saying it should have been a red card in his co-commentary on Saturday.

It’s a massive issue, that can’t be argued, but it was no different to what Cavanagh did the week before in the game against Meath and the rules were applied as they are in the rule book.

Under the present system, nothing more can be done about it and my fears about the shortcomings of the black card are well known by now.

It wasn’t the only flashpoint in the game. In the sixth minute, Dessie Mone fouled a Tyrone player yet won a free and in the 17th Darren Hughes was wrongly shown a yellow card and blown for a free, which affected his performance for the rest of the game.

At half-time, there were some ‘afters’ and Martin Penrose was sent off on the resumption. I understand the procedure for waiting until the start of the second half to show yellow and red cards but it’s a little unfair on the team not knowing until the restart that they have to play with 14 men.

In the 68th minute, Conor Gormley played referee Cormac Reilly to win a free out against Tommy Freeman. Kieran Hughes could have no complaints with his second yellow.

David Coldrick refereed the second game and he has a huge amount of respect from players whether it’s because of common sense, his interpretation of the rules or simply not applying the rules.

In the eighth minute, Brian Hurley escaped punishment for tripping Rory O’Carroll as did Daniel Goulding for a foul on Jonny Cooper in the 12th minute.

A minute later, Bernard Brogan collided into Alan O’Connor but didn’t get a free. And yet because of Coldrick’s reputation these matters never affected his control of the game.

But in the 34th minute, Dublin should have been awarded a penalty for a pick-up by Michael Shields. The reaction of the crowd was huge and the ref kept looking to his umpires but got no assistance. Ciaran Sheehan should also have been given a penalty for a pull back by Kevin O’Brien.

Yesterday, Kieran Donaghy had an extremely strong case for a penalty but Kinsella elected not to do anything. Otherwise, things ran smoothly for him and he continues to have a good year. After a week of the managers trying to advise McQuillan on how to referee the Donegal-Mayo game he did well.

Mayo’s first goal came off a turnover when some referees might have given a free out. McQuillan gave a correct yellow card to Aidan O’Shea and when Paddy McGrath fouled Alan Dillon it was great to see him move the ball forward to penalise Rory Kavanagh and Michael Murphy for standing too close to the freetaker.

It’s the first time it’s happened in a game I’ve watched this year and it’s to be commended.

There was also some excellent work on the part of McQuillan and his team to send off Donegal’s Eamon McGee for a deserved red card in the 52nd minute.